Process of making articles of plastic materials.



O. G. DIEPENDORF. PROCESS OF MAKING ARTICLES QF PLASTIC MATERIALS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10, 1908.

Patented Sept. 14, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 WITNESSES: y Q W O. G. DI IFBNDOEF. PROCESS OF MAKINGARTICLES 01? PLASTIC MATERIALS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 10, 1908.

Patented Sept. 14. 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR r Wgwme ATTORNEY WlTNESSES 'NDQRF, 6F BINGHAIvITON, NEW YORK,ASSIGNOR 110 INTERNATIONAL BRICK MACHINE COMPANY, OF BINGHAMTGN, NEWYORK.

?EQOESSOE MAKING ARTICLESOF'PIJASTIC MATERIALS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 14, mos.

Application filed September 10, 1908. erial No. 452,471.

,the process of manufacturing bricks and other articles from plasticmaterials, wherein the materials/are pressed into the desired forms inmachines designed for the purpose, while in a suitably plasticcondition; and my object is to provide for imparting a smooth andperfect surface finish to the lateral or exposed faces of the bricks orother molded forms, while they are being pressed or molded into shape.

l carrying out this improved process I 'erahly employ themethod pfmaking the iels or other molded articles substantially described in myUnited States Letters Patent No. 766,938, dated August 9, 1904,

for improvements in the process of making bricks; in connection with amodified form of the machine described in my United States LettersPatent No. 852,934, dated May 7, 1907, for improvement in brick makingmaohinesyor in connection with a. suitably modified form of machinesoflhe type describedin the patent to Leonhardt, No. 523,797, dated'Jirly21, 1894, for machines for pressing bricks, tiles, etc.'

.To attain my object 1 construct the machines in themanner illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section through the ma chinedescribed in my .said Letters Patent, No. 852,934:; and Figs. I 2 and'S,a side elevation and a vertlcal longitudinal section, respectively, of-amodified form of the machine described in the patent to l'leonhardt, No.523,797; so much of the machines only being shown as is necessary toillustrate the modifications required to adapt them to carry out myimproved process.

In my form of machine, the molding 'portion ofthe'apparatus comprises avertically mo able mold 1, (see Fig. 1), the ends of which projectthrouch guide ways in the side frames of the machine and are coupledoutside of said side frames, at each side of the .maehine, by means oflinks 2 and lovers 3 toall operating shaft 4; one side of said links andarms being shown in broken lines in the illustration. The. shaft 4 isoperated by means of an arm 5 which contacts with a cam G fastened tothe main shaft 7 of the machine. The shaft 7 is provided with a crank 9which operates a connecting rod 8 coupled to toggle arms 10 and 1.1 bymeans of a pin 12. The toggle arms 10 are coupled to a cross head 13which is held in fixed position between the side frames, said cross headcarrying upon its upper face one or more plungers 14-, adapted to closethe bottom opening, or openings through the mold. The

lower toggle arms 11 are fastened to a recip 'rocating cross head 15,the latter cross head '70 being coupled, by means of the vertical rods16, to an upper reciprocating cross head 17, which carries one or moreupper plungers l8 adaptedto enter the opening, or openings at the top ofthe mold. I

The operation of this; machine is preferably as follows :Afterthe moldfiller has deposited '-t.he inaterial in the mold the shaft 7, rotatingin the direction indicated by the arrow, actuates the crank andconnecting rod to draw the toggle arms into vertical alinement, therebyforcing the cross head 15 dowmward and drawing the pl lu'igers 18 intothe mold-to compress the material therein and form it into the desiredshape. This position of'the parts of the machine is shown' in theillustration. v.l)uring this period of .coinpression,.-and while theupper plungers are being held practically stationary in their lowermostpositions; that is to say, during lthe period in which the crank pin'9is passing the dead center, the mold 1 is given an up and down motion bymeans of the projections 19' formed on the cam (S, which act on the armto raise and 'to lower the mold the required distance. As the machine isshown, there are three of these projections and-there will he,therefore, imparted to the mold three movements while the blocks areunder compression. This up and down motion of the mold,'while the moldedmaterial is in this condition, acts-to bring the outside particles to atrue and smooth surface and, furthermore, imparts to theselateral facest superior polish and finish, with true and sharp cut corners and edges;As the machine continues to operate, the crank 9 acts upon the togglearms to elevate the cross head 17', and the nrojection 20 on the cam (3acts at the same time to elevate the mold;

, der, as described in my said Letters Patent.

During this ejection from the mold the lat-' eral faces of the moldedforms receive a polishing action for the fourth time. 1

In the machine constructed as shown in the Leonhardt patent, the mold 21is held stationary at all times and the molded forms,

after compression, are elevated. by the lower plunger or plunger-s tothe top of the mold, where they are moved out upon a receiving table bythe action of the mold tiller when thrown forward to till the mold inthe usual manner. In this type of machine, therefore, it is necessary,in imparting the finishing and polishing action to. the lateral faces ofthe molded forms, to provide means for raising and lowering the upperand lower plungcrs in unison, and while they are compressing thematerial in the mold. To accomplish this, the cams which operate theupper and lower plungers must be modified in some such manner asillustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, wherein 21 represents the stationary mold,and 22 the upper cross head, which is adapted to slide in verticalguides formed on the side frames of the machine. At each side of thiscross head there are links 2t, the lower ends of which are slotted at 25to pass the. operating shaft 26. At points above and below the slot 25the links are provided with rollers 27 and 28 respectively. Fastened tothe shaft 26 is a double faced cam, or a pair of cams fastened side byside, said cams being indicated by the reference numerals 29 and 30respcctivel y. The outer cam 29 acts upon the roller'27 to elevate thecross head, while the inner cam 30 acts upon the roller 28 to depressthe cross head, said roller 28 beingmade narrower than the roller 27 toclear the cam 29. The lower plungers are mounted on the cross head 32,saidcross head being provided with rollers 33 to contact with cams 34fastened upon the shaft 36, there'being two of these cams pro vided inthe machine, as described in the Leonhardt patent. Inthe position of theparts as shown in the drawings, the projection 35 on cam 34: has justpassed the roller 33 and the plungcrs 23 and 31 have been drawn togetherto compress the material in the mold. As the roller 33 rides down intothe depression 37 on cam 24, the rollers 28 on the links 24will beforced downward by the portion 36 of cams 30 to the first of theprojections 38 on said cams, thereby causing the upper plungers tofollow the lower plungers at a .tixcd distance therefrom. As the shaft26 continues to rotate the lower plungers will be forced upward by theprojections on cams and the upper plunger's will be permittedto rise bythe depressions 40 on the cams 30, the depressions 37 and theprojections 39 on cams 34 and the corresponding projections 38 anddepressions 40 on the arms 30 being twice repeated, thereby impartingthree up and down motions to the material in the mold to effect thepolishing and finishing action. After the points 41 on the cams 29 and30 have passed the rollers 28, cams 29 will engage the upper rollers 27and elevate the cross head 22. At the same time the projections 42 oncams 3 will move the lower plungers upward until their faces are fiushwith the upper sideof the mold 21, said plungers being held .in suchposition for a short period while the" mold filler is thrown forward toeject the mold-ed forms. The lower plungers then drop until theirrollers engage the surfaces 43 of cams 34:, the material from the" moldfiller being then deposited in the mold.

In carrying out. this process and to form perfect and smooth facedbricks, or other molded formsgl preferably employ a mix- .ture of cementwith sand, or .ot-her finely ground or pulverized materials. Thematerial is first slightly dampened and thoroughly mixed with cement,preferably Portland cement; or the material and the cement may be mixeddry and then slightly dampened, the amount of liquid added not beingsutticient to make the mixture into a paste. The manner of testing themixture, in practice, to find if it is sutliciently clamp, is to press asmall amount in the hand and if it con-. tains the proper amount ofmoisti re it will just remain in shape when released, but if touchedwill fall apart. The material, haviug been thus properly mixed with thecement and dampened, is placed in the hopper of either of the machinesdescribed, or in any machine adapted to operate in the manner described,and thereafter fed to the mold,

thereby being molded into the desired form and receiving during theprocess of moldmg the finishing and polishing action as above described.After the bricks or other molded forms are taken from the machine theyare allowed to stand until a thin crust has formed on the outsidesurface. The time which this crust requires to form varies according tothe conditions of the atmosphere. On a very bright, dry day it will takeabout two hours. "When this crust has formed, the bricks, or

other molded forms will again be moistened, either to complete orpartial saturation by spraying them with water, or completely submergingthem in water, or sub ecting them to an atmosphere of moist steam. Thissecond saturation, or partial saturation of the molded forms insures theproper wetting of the cement and the other particles of the mixture tothe center thereof. After subessury to insure cement.

outset;

jecting the hriclcs, or other molded forms to the second wetting, theyare allowed to stand preferably from to 48 hours, during which 1' e thecement in the interior burdens and I secures together the particles ofind stone, sand, gravel or other friable cur-tin of which the mixture iscomposed, and l ound thet, when finally dried.,- the forms neithershrink nor expand iposed. end that they retain extremel polished s Islump corne By or log n minimum amount of the liquid in forming theiu'iclrs, or other molded articles into share there will .be noentrepping; of the liquid in the uuiterizil or forcing it out inchanneling strcuins during the press. ing of the mnteriui into shape inthe mold. liho particles are, therefore, pressed into a solid muss bothexterior surfaces, and tho rubbing action, while in the mold. and underpressurmcnuscs all interstices on the exterior to he tilled up und theparticles to he brought out so as to form perfectly smooth and uniformsurfaces. lx' hcre materials oi an oily nature are employed a very highdegree of polish may be thus imparted to the lateral surfaces. The crustformed during the first drying serves to ii'iuintn'iii perfectly theform into which the tutorials have been pressed, while undergoing thesecond wetting which is necthe proper action oi the with clean cutcdg'cs end i'iithout, therefore, confiningmyself to any particulararrangement of nniclnnc or smooth end, with some nmterials,'

n the interior and onthe appliance for or to the degree of pressureimparted to the materials while in the molds; or to any particularmanner of mixing and drying the materials, either prior to or after theyhave been molded into shape, whet I claim as my invention and desire tosecure by Letters Patent 15:

1. The process comprising the forming of plastic material into thedesired shape in a suitable mold and subjecting one or more surfacesthereof to a reciprocating finishing action while in the mold, wherebythe particles of material will be acted upon to fill all iutmstices insuch surfaces and thereby render said surfaces smooth and uniform.

I The process comprising the forming of plastic material into thedesired shape in a suitable mold and subjecting one or more surfacesthereof to a reciprocating finishing action while subjected to pressurein the mold.

3. The process comprising the forming of a moistened mixture of cementand other materials into the desired shape in a suitable mold,suluecting one or more surfaces thereof to ureciprocatingfiuish-ingnction while under pressure in the mold thenpermitting a crust to form thereon and thereafter wotting the moldedform sufliciently to cause the cement in the interior to properly set.

In testimony whereof I have aflixcd my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

()RVIS G. UIEFENDORF.

l' i itnesses F. J. BAYLESS, Ki'ruiuuun G. (lmonns'ruu.

forming the molded articles;

